Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding he (a) has made available in (i) each of the last five financial years and (ii) the 2021-22 financial year and (b) plans to make available in the (A) next financial year and (B) subsequent three financial years for the purpose of ensuring a successful transition between BTECs and T-Levels.
The department recognises that significant additional funding will be needed for the successful introduction and delivery of T Levels. We announced in 2017 that T Level programmes would be backed by up to an additional £500 million of investment every year when fully rolled out. Some of this additional £500 million is included in the £1.6 billion extra announced for 16-19 funding by the 2024/25 financial year, compared with the 2021/22 financial year, in the recent Spending Review.
We have made available £268 million in capital funding for the first three waves of T Level delivery, starting in September 2020, 2021, and 2022. This funding is being used to improve the quality of facilities and equipment that will be used to deliver T Levels. Eligible providers will also be able to access training to help prepare their teachers and leaders.
As set out in the table below, we have also allocated £207.6 million to help the sector build capacity for T Level industry placements and deliver placements to students on existing programmes. From the 2020/21 academic year, we have allocated £3.2 million in industry placement funding for those on T Level programmes. In addition, T Levels include more teaching hours and are more prescriptive in the content than general 16-19 study programmes. Therefore, four larger bands have been added to the 16-19 funding bands to ensure T level providers receive the additional funding required.
Academic Years | ||||||
Funding stream | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | Totals to date |
Capacity and delivery funding | £0 | £57.4m | £53.6m | £52.2m | £44.4m | £207.6m |
Industry placement funding | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0.5m | £2.7m | £3.2m |
The funding data for the financial years 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 is not yet available.